ballistic simulation, just atart reading about it

[erezb1]

Hello all, i'm new here, and new with complex dynamic simulations.
for several years' i'm working on Maya (car accident simulations), and for the last few weeks, playing with Blender.

One of my clients, asking to build 3D scene for ballistic research, it must be on a scientific level, means he gives me all the data he has on the elements (bullet mass, gun powder force, air density, humidity...).
my question, is it possible ?
can Maya (or any other software) can simulate this ?
can i shut bullet from a gun and point it over a plane and the bullet can react ? (for fabric, metal, brick wall...).

Please help me with a generic answers (for a start). how do i approach for this subject.

Thanx
Erez

[MaxDZ8]

This is very interesting.
I don't recall those things being explicit in Bullet. In general, I would not trust this library for accurate physical modeling like this. Its main goal is high-performance simulation, mainly for interactive graphics purposes. It has been used in the movie industry as well, but we're talking about something very different here.
The high speeds and small masses involved might eventually be a problem.
I'm afraid your best bet is to search for an ad-hoc simulator or plugin.

I'd be extremely careful about the accuracy involved in Bullet simulations. I suppose it is possible to do this kind of things (damping might be used to simulate speed loss due to air density) using a short timestep but I'd also be wary of the guarantees you're offering to your client. Even if the numbers might be there, odds are the reputation of the simulating package isn't. I don't know how aggressive the lawyers are going to be, but the choice might be difficult to defend.

It might be counter-intuitive but Bullet really has little to do with simulating bullet in terms of scientific ballistics for a crime scene.

[erezb1]

Max my friend

Thanx for the long answer, at the last few days, i was reading about subject and for now, i'm not sure i can give my client a scientific solution.
I'll update on future progress on this.


thanx again
Erez

[CookieMonster]

Applying any method to something that it was not meant for will give unreliable results.
A bridge for cars collapsed before it was built because they used a model for train bridges.